DraftKings Call of Duty: Saturday Cheat Sheet

Games (EDT)

• 1:00 p.m. Atlanta FaZe vs. Toronto Ultra
• 2:30 p.m. Chicago Huntsmen vs. New York Subliners
• 4:00 p.m. Paris Legion vs. Los Angeles Guerrillas
• 5:30 p.m. London Royal Ravens vs. Minnesotta Rokkr

ATL (22-4) vs. TOR (6-12)

I feel cheated, to be honest. Friday's slate promised action, excitement and a whole lot of imaginary rule breaking. We were supposed to get vigilante teams fighting against the absurdity of a biased gentleman's agreement, creating drama throughout the entire slate of games.

What we got instead was the favorites all winning in comfortable fashion, with perhaps the biggest weapon highlight of the night featuring the Grau, primarily a Warzone-focused AR, getting used for approximately 20 seconds by FormaL before being banished to the shadow realm. If this was all one big tease, I'm just more ashamed that I fell for it.

Onto Saturday's slate, which seems to be fairly cut and dry. FaZe finally kicked the five-series bug against Los Angeles, who many anticipated could actually beat Atlanta given their recent struggles. Abezy stuck on the SMG for the most part, with Simp and Priestahh rounding out what was a fairly heavy two-to-three SMG lineup for most of the game. I suspect Toronto will try to ban out a handful of maps that force FaZe to play three ARs, if only to make the top team feel uncomfortable. Of all the games, this one has the closest chance of being a sweep, but at this point FaZe seem hellbent on getting more respawn practice, even if they are the obviously better team.

Despite winning Friday, I'm surprised to see the likes of Methodz, Cammy and Bance all priced so absurdly low. I don't think the Ultra have any shot at winning Saturday, but they finished the first day of the New York Home Series with the respective eighth, ninth and 13th highest KDs of the evening. Bance is particularly surprising, as he had previously acted as the team's objective player, switching out as a main SMG for this tournament. It's hard to imagine Bance really being able to compete with some of the best SMG players on the planet, but if this series gets pushed to five games, each of those players would make for terrific value if they can even play 75 percent to Friday's form. 

Word of note, I don't understand why DraftKings has Classic listed as out. He was subbed out the last tournament, but played Friday against the Legion, posting a 0.94 KD across the four-game series. He's probably not worth the $8,200 price tag, but he should be playing again Saturday if you want a contrarian play.

Prediction: ATL 3-1

• ATL Players to Target: Simp ($8,800), Abezy ($7,800), MajorManiak ($7,600)
• TOR Players to Target: Cammy ($7,400), Methodz ($7,200), Bance ($6,400)

CHI (18-6) vs. NYS (9-14)

This matchup should be a fun one, as the Subliners have been slowly climbing up the ranks of top-tier teams, but they should face a massive test in the form of the Huntsmen.

Mack continues to live up to his namesake, finishing Friday with an absurd 1.51 KD, easily good for the best of Day 1 players, but it was Temp and ZooMaa who also emerged as key players, each posting a KD higher than 1.2. It's worth noting, Temp largely stuck to his SMG against the Rokkr despite being touted as one of the better ARs in the world in this article Friday, but I suspect that's just do to the sheer brilliance MackMelts has shown over the last couple of months. If you already have a top-3 FLEX player, as is the case of the young slayer, there's no reason to change things up with Temp.

On the other hand, Arcitys was one of the prime winners of the new meta even with the Huntsmen not choosing to switch to three ARs until Game 3. Followers of the scene over the last couple of years shouldn't be surprised by Arcitys' explosion Friday, as the twin was long considered one of the best ARs in the entire league until this meta largely forced him to be an afterthought. FormaL's per-game engagement figures make him a safer pick at $400 more, also factoring in his usual 70-80 seconds of HP time, but I think Arcitys gives you more bang for your buck, even though there's no way he's finishing with the third-most kills of the day again.

Prior to Friday, I would have easily said the Subliners would win this series 3-2 or 3-1 just given how bad the Huntsmen have been at Search and Destroy, but they looked positively dangerous Friday against the Royal Ravens in the game mode. I'll still lean the Subliners in this one, but it ultimately could go either way.

Prediction: NYS 3-2

• CHI Players to Target: FormaL ($8,800), Arcitys ($8,400)
• NYS Players to Target: MackMelts ($9,000), Temp ($7,600), ZooMaa ($7,000)

PAR (6-13) vs. LAG (6-13)

These lower bracket games should be relatively easy to predict. I went out on a limb and suggested the Legion would ultimately escape Friday's must-win contest with the victory, and while both Game 3 and 4 were close losses, they were losses nevertheless. This new meta was supposed to help Denz stand out as a second AR opposite Louqa, but it was instead the normal objective man, Zed, who finished second in the team in kills. It took some outstanding individual brilliance from Zed to achieve that figure, so instead of this being some sort of actionable change, it's likely more of a frustrating fact for DFS players hoping to get any sort of utility out of this matchup.

The Guerrillas did not look sharp against FaZe, particularly the combo of AquA and Vivid who posted a combined 0.72 KD with the latter leading Day 1 in deaths. I suspect that will change in this matchup, if only because they'll have the sure advantage in Search and Destroy. Given how close each of the first two series seem, there's no reason to invest too much attention into this matchup, which should see the lowest kill numbers of the day, and have the potential to just go three games. I love LAG as the obvious "team" play because of their S&D prowess, but if you're playing any of these guys it's as contrarian plays, and expensive ones at that.

Prediction: LAG 3-1

• LAG Players to Target: Decemate ($8,600), Blazt ($8,400), Saints ($7,200), LAG Team, ($1,600)

LON (10-11) vs. MIN (12-13)

I've officially given up hope on the Rokkr. It's clear the switch to online has negatively impacted this team, because even in a meta that seems well-suited to fit their team, they were blown off the map by the Subliners in a series that was largely noncompetitive. 

I'm still not sure Alexx's hand injury is completely solved, as the slayer posted a sub 0.60 KD across the four-game series, and essentially relinquished his SMG role Friday to Asim who previously was just the objective, early rotation guy. That's a troubling fact considering how good Alexx was earlier in the year, and should be especially concerning against a well-rounded team such as London. Both Assault and GodRx, two of my favorites to emerge as major players within this new meta, also completely flopped against the presence of MackMelts, Accuracy and Temp. The Subliners have been improving plenty in recent tournaments, but there's just no way either of those players should have KDs lower than 0.70 across two Hardpoints in a series.

The London Royal Ravens didn't look particularly good in their lone Search and Destroy, but each of their respawns were close against the Huntsmen, who are generally regarded as one of the better respawn teams in the Call of Duty World League. I think Friday's results had more to do with the Ravens facing a solid team, as opposed to any underlining issues, and I would be shocked if they struggle against the Rokkr. If GodRx and Assault can even remotely figure things out, Minnesota should steal at least one respawn, or hell, even the Search and Destroy given how bad the Ravens looked on Picadilly, but Wuskin should be a terror in this meta, with Skrapz and Zer0 easily able to clean up any messes left over. The Guerrillas feel like a better "team" to own on DraftKings given their S&D prowess, but the Ravens also have an affordable price to consider.

Prediction: LON 3-1

• LON Players to Target: Skrapz ($8,000), Wuskin ($7,800)
• MIN Players to Target: GodRX ($8,000), Asim ($7,800)